A fire in September last year left Sold Buy the Sea Realty without a permanent home of its own.

But that’s changing quickly as workers finish the sidewalk and parking lot at the firm’s new office at 5004 Oleander Drive.

The agency bought the 1,800-square-foot house for about $135,000 this summer and has been working with the city of Wilmington, New Hanover County and the Department of Transportation to meet all of the requirements necessary to turn the property into an office, said Dawn Berard, broker in charge of the company’s Wilmington office and one of its owners.

Sold Buy the Sea has 17 agents -- 10 in Wilmington and seven at an office in Hampstead, Berard said.

“We like the small boutique feel, and we wanted something welcoming, like they’re walking into a cozy little house,” Berard said Monday as she gave a tour of the new Oleander Drive office, which has hardwood floors in most of the rooms, newly painted walls and large windows in the back looking out on the ninth hole of the Wilmington Municipal Golf Course. “This office just fits. This is us.”

Sold Buy the Sea handles residential, commercial and rental properties, Berard said, and opening a new office has given her additional experience working with government entities on commercial projects.

“I’ve got an even better understanding for clients in the future that it’s not that scary of a process,” she said. “You just have to follow all of the criteria.”

She said Sold Buy the Sea hopes to celebrate the grand opening of its new Wilmington digs by the end of November or beginning of December.

“With this space, we hope to grow,” she said.

Berard said she had just left the firm’s old location, 6329 Oleander Drive, on Sept. 27, 2013, when an unattended cigarette on a second-floor landing caught the structure on fire.

“Thankfully, all of our files were electronically stored,” Berard said.